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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22907560">My Truest Self</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawhatsAndDelibirds/pseuds/StrawhatsAndDelibirds'>StrawhatsAndDelibirds</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Femslash February 2020 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Femslash, Identity Reveal, Spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:15:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22907560</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawhatsAndDelibirds/pseuds/StrawhatsAndDelibirds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>If you want the truth, then sometimes you need to tell something about yourself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Flayn/Lysithea von Ordelia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Femslash February 2020 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620421</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My Truest Self</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She had watched her get worse for a while now. Perhaps it was because her perception was skewed given what she was, but the Lysithea from five years ago seemed a lot more lively than the Lysithea now. She had spent a lot of time around humans, but a lot of them came and went. There wasn’t really a lot of time to spend getting to know very many of them. Maybe this was normal. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But this was a lie that she told herself. She wanted to believe it so desperately. She saw the rest of her former classmates, and they seemed just as strong, if not stronger than when they had left. And there was something else about her beloved that was different than the rest of them. This had been something that she had known about from the very beginning. She could smell it on her from the moment she first saw her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crests being so common was something that she had had to get used to, but this was something completely foreign to her. At first she had thought it was a new crest, and that the humans had gotten so used to having them that they could create new ones like Nabateans had with their own, but that was impossible. She had awoken and a thousand years had passed, yet for this to be something noteworthy among the staff and students, it had to be something else. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yet it was impossible for someone to have two crests. It was simply unheard of. It would be like having two hearts! Things might’ve changed from when she fell asleep, but that was too drastic of a change! Something was amiss, and even though she did not want to pry, she simply could not allow this to go unquestioned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lysithea! Might I borrow you for a moment!” What she had planned was risky, so she had to pick the perfect location. What she had in mind would get her scolded for sure, perhaps even worse, but this had to be done. Father would do the same thing in her position. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course, what is it?” Lysithea had no idea of the depth and severity of what was going to befall them next, and if she was completely honest, Cethleann wasn’t too sure of it either. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wish to speak to you in private. I have something important I wish to talk to you about.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay.” She seemed understandably apprehensive. Her wording was perhaps a little too much. It was definitely an adequate warning as to the severity of the topic, but perhaps she could’ve taken it a little slower. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have the perfect place. Follow me.” There were few places that one could expect perfect privacy. Lady Rhea’s room, Father’s room, and if not for his eavesdropping, her own room. It was exciting to bring someone into her room. Under different circumstances perhaps the excitement would be shared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But now was not the time to think about how sneaking a girl into her bedroom was a very cool thing to do. It was still very cool and she was more than certain the other former students would agree with her, but this was a serious time with serious topics. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I had something to ask you, and perhaps it’s not my place to bring up such an uncomfortable topic, but I wanted to ask you about your crests. There’s no way that you should have two of them, yet you do.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lysithea shifted uncomfortably. It was rude of her to ask so suddenly. To approach such a subject, she would need to show that she was willing to do an exchange of equally important information. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s rude of me to not share information of my own. I have a feeling that whatever this is, it is deeply personal. So I figured that I should share a fact of myself with you.” She would push back her hair and reveal her pointed ears. It had been so long since she had shown them to anyone. Had she not felt them as she brushed her hair every morning she would have assumed they vanished. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your ears.” Lysithea reached out and touched them. It was odd having someone touch your ears. It made her feel unlike a horse getting its nose pet. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have been told the truth about crests had been lost to time. If I tell you the truth, do you promise that not a word of this leaves this room?” It was perhaps a lot to ask, but Cethleann knew that the truth of Lysithea’s secret would have the same fate. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The truth about crests? I didn’t take you for the crest scholar type.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The truth is that I haven’t been honest with you. About me. This whole time I have not been Flayn, and my Brother is not my brother.” She took a deep breath in, and pushed past the looks Lysithea was giving her. “My real name is Cethleann. That was the true reason why I was kidnapped five years ago. My blood has the power to extend lifespans and and grant my crest.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s no way that’s possible. This has to be a joke, Flayn. Saint Cethleann fought alongside Saint Seiros and the other saints over a thousand years ago. To claim something like that would mean you’re over a thousand years old.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I spent a lot of that time sleeping. I received grave injuries during the war. I only woke up about twenty years ago. I was kept safe as my body healed. I woke up at the monastery and my brother was here. He devoted his life for the very sake of protecting me.” There were still a lot of facts she was missing. Father didn’t like to talk about the time she spent asleep, and she could understand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well you have to have some proof of this, right? Because these are really big claims.” She supposed she didn’t have much of a choice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had been over a thousand years since she used this form. Her and Mother would transform and catch fish. Sometimes even Father would join in if he was feeling particularly playful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was one of the few times she was happy about being so young. Her growth spurt wouldn’t hit for another few decades probably, so she could manage to fit into this room. Her body was bathed in a green light, as she took on her serpentine form. It was still long enough that her body started to wrap around the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m a Nabatean. There’s not a lot of us left, but we are the descendants of the Goddess.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lysithea stared at her as the gears in her head turned. Cethleann was well aware that this was a lot to take in. Here she was, a mighty dragon, when moments ago she was a mere girl with pointy ears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay.” Lysithea took a seat down on her bed. “I guess you really are telling the truth.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t lie to you. I’ve kept a lot of things a secret, but I swear my feelings are genuine. All I have hidden from you was what I am and my name. The rest I promise is true.” She paused. “Except what I said about my brother, but he is still very important to me like a brother so it isn’t that much of a lie.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Brothers were a little like fathers, right? She never had one, so she never knew. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow…” Lysithea stared forward. Then she started laughing. But also crying. “Out of all the people I could’ve fallen in love with, it had to be the one that was going to live the longest out of everyone. Fate is so cruel.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The laughter died down to chuckles, as tears continued to roll down her face. She reached out to comfort her, but paused momentarily to turn back to her humanoid form. Claws wouldn’t do her much help here. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I mean because of what those mages did to me. I wasn’t born with my crests. My house fell on hard times because they supported the wrong side, and because of it I was forced to get crests implanted into me. It was a risky procedure, and I don’t even know why they did it, but it cut my lifespan drastically.” She let out a bitter laugh. “All I have left is five years. That’s what they told me, it was ten at the time.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well we can’t let that happen! I will not rest until I find a solution.” Because there were ways to lengthen human lifespans, but she was unclear if the body could even withstand a third crest. It seemed very unlikely. Father or Lady Rhea had to have some idea. They knew far more about crests than she did. Maybe the best answer would be to seek out Professor Hannamen about all this. Father could not stop her if this was her decision. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine. I’ve come to terms with this.” She looked so defeated. That was so unlike her. She rejected that notion completely. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No that simply won’t do. I swear on my crest that I will find a way to save you. I refuse your fate.” Her look changed from that of defeat, to something maybe a little more hopeful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Cethleann.”</span>
</p>
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